ST. MARY'S CATHEDRAL

North of Lossi Square is one of the oldest buildings in Tallinn, the Dome, sometimes called St Mary's Cathedral. Construction was ordered after the Danish invasion in 1229, and the church was consecrated in 1240 by King Valdemar II. The building has not been altered much since then, only the bell tower was added in the 17th century. The wooden interior, which was destroyed in the great fire that ravaged part of the old town in 1684, also dates from this period. The Swedish king, Charles XI, imposed a special tax on the population to finance the reconstruction of Tallinn, including the Cathedral. The baroque spire was added in 1778. The cathedral has several interesting funerary monuments from the 16th-17th centuries, as well as a monument in the form of a sarcophagus dedicated to Ivan Krusenstern, the first Russian navigator to circumnavigate the globe, in 1803. Note that the two globes adorning the tomb omit the location of New Zealand. The most impressive tomb is that of the French missionary Pontus de la Gardie who served in the Swedish army. In the north wing is the monument to Samuel Greig, a Scottish admiral who served for many years in the Tsarist Navy from 1763 until his death in 1788. The memorial plaque expresses the grief of Catherine II. The organ, probably the most powerful in the country, was developed in Frankfurt in 1913 and was the last to be imported from Germany before the First World War. Organ concerts are held on Saturdays at noon.